A multilayer ceramic capacitor, a multilayer chip electronic component, is a chip type condenser mounted on the printed circuit boards of several electronic products such as display devices including liquid crystal displays (LCDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), or the like, computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, and the like, serving to charge or discharge electricity.
Such a multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) may be used as a component in various electronic apparatuses due to advantages such as a small size, high capacitance, and ease of mountability.
The multilayer ceramic capacitor may have a structure in which a plurality of dielectric layers and internal electrodes having different polarities are disposed between the dielectric layers and are alternately stacked.
Since the dielectric layer as described above has piezoelectricity and electrostriction, when a direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC) voltage is applied to the multilayer ceramic capacitor, a piezoelectric phenomenon may occur between the internal electrodes, causing vibrations.
These vibrations may be transferred to a printed circuit board on which the multilayer ceramic capacitor is mounted through external electrodes of the multilayer ceramic capacitor, such that an entire printed circuit board becomes a sound reflecting surface to transmit the sound of vibrations as noise.
The sound of vibrations may correspond to an audio frequency range of 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, potentially causing user discomfort. The vibration noise causing listener discomfort as described above is known as acoustic noise.
In accordance with the recent trend for slimness and miniaturization of electronic devices, such a multilayer ceramic capacitor has been used together with a printed circuit board in an environment of high voltage and large voltage change, and thus, the acoustic noise may be sufficiently recognized by a user.
Therefore, a novel product capable of decreasing acoustic noise has been continuously demanded.